COMMENT - This is a blatant example of MDC corruption in action. Just like in Zambia 21 years ago, no matter how corrupt people thought UNIP was, it was incomparable to the corruption of the MMD under Frederick Chiluba. Once you have a neoliberal party that doesn't believe in government because it worships 'free markets', don't expect good governance. In fact, expect abuse of office and official funds.
Mugabe, Sata arrive to Bulawayo council strike
26/04/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
BULAWAYO was in the throes of a major health crisis on Thursday as President Robert Mugabe and his Zambian counterpart Michael Sata arrived for the official opening of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. A four-day strike by 2,300 council workers over outstanding salaries had paralysed most services.
Mayor Thaba Moyo stepped in to handle the talks with unions late Thursday, but the talks appeared to have failed. Clinics remained closed, burst water pipes had cut supplies to at least four suburbs and rubbish heaps were piling up around the city – all in the middle of the country’s premier business exhibition.
The MDC-T run Bulawayo council has not paid workers for two months, and unions say the February salaries – the last time staff was paid – were slashed by 40 percent without notice.
“I don’t want to call this a strike. People have gathered at the council offices looking for their money. If they pay us now, we will leave here and go to work,” said Moses Mahlangu, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Urban Councils Workers’ Union.
He added: “What we have had so far are demands for council workers to go back to work. How will they collect rubbish when they are hungry? How do they work hungry?
“The council says there is no money. When your father says he has no money, his actions should show that.
“Now, you have heard that they bought over 20 cars for top management including the mayor, and they are still buying. Council staff is unpaid but people are buying cars.
“We are not asking for luxury. We are talking of students who have been sent back from school because they have not paid fees; we are talking of lodgers who have been thrown out because they can’t pay rent… we are talking about sick people who are sleeping outside in this cold.”
Since Monday, the workers have been gathering everyday on the lawn at the Tower Block building which houses council offices. A bank has threatened to seize the building over a US$5 million debt.
Several suburbs including Paddonhurst, Sunnyside, North End, Tegela and Romney Park have been without water for three days after a water pipe burst.
Garbage was also collecting in several parts of the city centre, mainly the Basch Street Terminus commonly known as Egodini, Lobengula Street and the market place along 5th Avenue between Robert Mugabe Way and George Silundika Street.
Some council officials have accused the workers of using the Trade Fair to “blackmail” and “embarrass” the local authority. Mahlangu rejects the criticism.
“Us being here to ask for our money has nothing to do with the Trade Fair,” he said.
“We get paid on the 21st day of every month. What we have here is akin to a situation where someone who owes you money decides the terms of when you can claim it, and even withholds some of your money and still expects you to be grateful and obedient.”
Mugabe and Sata arrived in the city on Thursday ahead of the official opening of the annual exhibition on Friday.
With nearly 200,000 people expected to visit the Trade Fair grounds by Saturday night, council bosses are desperate to end the work boycott before a full-scale crisis.
Labels: BULAWAYO, COUNCILS, MDC CORRUPTION, ZIMBABWE INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR
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COMMENT - On the one hand, I am against government involvement in people's private lives, as long as it concerns a) consenting b) adults. On the other hand... these gay activist groups seem to be a heaven send for the ZANU-PF, whose policies I support. Especially with an upcoming election, they are driving any undecided people toward the party that is not connected to gay issues. The problem with these organisations is that they are not willing to sow where they are going to reap. They are not willing to do the work and sway the people to them, and want policies to be imposed from the top down. Of course they would be up against 100 years of Christian indoctrination... And then there is the issue of power relations and vulnerable children, which the Peter Roebuck affair only underscores. This agenda is not driven by local organisations, and is driven from abroad. Which is not very democratic.
Gay group donation triggers Byo storm
07/12/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
RESDENTS and civic organisations have blasted Bulawayo Mayor, Thaba Moyo (MDC-T) for accepting a donation of litter bins from a local gay and lesbian pressure group. Councillor Moyo received the pink rubbish bins from the Sexual Rights Centre during a brief function at the Large City Hall on Tuesday.
Bulawayo United Residents Association secretary-general, Samuel Moyo said the local authority should have consulted residents.
“The issue of gays and lesbians is a very controversial national problem and council was therefore supposed to consult the people as accepting the donation could be misconstrued to mean the local authority subscribes to gay rights,” Moyo told The Chronicle.
“The gesture in itself is noble but the decision to accept or reject the bins should have come from the people not councilors.”
But Cllr Moyo defended the donation and warned against vandalism of the bins.
"We are a council (for) all (residents) despite race, colour or creed, and our donors are Bulawayo citizens and they reserve the right to donate to whoever they want to and we have also a right to accept donations from whoever we want," he said.
"(And) let me say whoever vandalises those bins will be made to pay."
MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has also been under-fire for backing gay rights in a recent interview.
President Robert Mugabe says gays and lesbians are worse than “pigs and dogs” and insists including gay rights into the country’s constitution is out of the question.
"That issue is not debatable, it's not up for discussion," Mugabe said in a recent interview.
"It is just madness, insanity. The ancestors will turn in their graves should we allow this to happen."
Tsvangirai initially backed the Zanu PF leader, remarking: “I fully support the President…. Women make up 52 percent of the population... There are more women than men, so why should men be proposing to men?"
However, he spectacularly backtracked during an interview with the BBC.
"It's a very controversial subject in my part of the world. My attitude is that I hope the constitution will come out with freedom of sexual orientation, for as long as it does not interfere with anybody. To me, it's a human right," he said.
Meanwhile, the MDC-Ncube faction said it was not surprised Cllr Moyo chose to accept the pink litter bins.
“To us this is not a surprise. Tsvangirai and his people have been advocating for gays and lesbians rights hence they accepted this donation with open hands,” organising secretary, Qhubani Moyo said.
“However, Tsvangirai and his party should not bring gays to Bulawayo. If they want to do it, they should go and do it at Harvest House (MDC-T headquarters), not here.”
Labels: BULAWAYO, HOMOSEXUALITY
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EDITORIAL COMMENT: To win back Bulawayo, Zanu-PF must deliver
Saturday, 03 December 2011 20:43
For the next seven days, Bulawayo will temporarily transform from a decaying metropolis to Zimbabwe’s most important city. Among all the towns and cities in this country that are crying out for help, none are screaming louder than Bulawayo. The City of Kings is desperate for renewal.
To a city that is literally gasping for survival, one of the immediate benefits of hosting the Zanu-PF National People’s Conference will be the loud projection of its critical challenges. With Bulawayo hosting such an important gathering, the nation expects a more robust approach to the problems bedevilling Zimbabwe’s second largest city.
Politicians should now feel compelled to move beyond the empty rhetoric and start doing more to revive the economic pulse of a city which used to be the hub of Zimbabwe’s industrial activity.
Factories have collapsed in record numbers in that part of the country. Belmont industrial area — once the envy of Africa — has been reduced to a sorry wasteland. Vital infrastructure is rusting away and the billowing chimneys which gave Bulawayo the nickname “koNtuthu Ziyathunqa” are now clogged with cobwebs.
What are our national leaders doing about those derelict factories? What are the leaders of Bulawayo and Matabeleland doing about the Belmont ghost zone?
Workers have lost jobs, families are in distress, small enterprises have seen their business evaporate and the local economy has been left comatose. The ordinary citizen expects leaders to show the way in finding solutions to the challenges plaguing Bulawayo. More effort should be invested in addressing bread and butter issues than shouting political slogans.
As matters stand, the anguished people of Bulawayo are being sold a dummy by politicians who, in this day and age, think they can get away with such a brazen act of smoke and mirrors.
For far too long, the political leadership in that part of the country has not sung from the same hymnbook. In a normal community, a crisis of the magnitude we are witnessing in Bulawayo would have galvanised the local leadership, eliciting a collective response. Sadly, not in Bulawayo. Political opportunism and petty jealousies have been perfected to an art.
Zanu-PF, as the party of Father Zimbabwe Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, is the only political formation in Zimbabwe which can find lasting solutions to the problems facing Bulawayo.
We must not forget the main reason why Zanu-PF has struggled politically in that city since the turn of the millennium. If the truth be told, the residents of Bulawayo got frustrated with Zanu-PF’s failure to deliver on bread and butter issues. That is how MDC-T rode on the protest vote and cruised to victory.
Here is a simple proposition: to win back Bulawayo, Zanu-PF must deliver on the crucial issues affecting the people. Today, those issues include the collapsed factories, the perception (real or imagined) that people in that part of the country are not significantly benefiting from national programmes, and the strong feeling that everything of economic and political importance revolves around “Bambazonke”— Harare.
And yet Zanu-PF does not need rocket science to win back Bulawayo. The indigenisation and economic empowerment revolution can be the answer to Bulawayo’s factory woes.
There is no better way to safeguard Zimbabwe’s sovereignty than by propelling the historically dispossessed black majority into mainstream economic activity.
The indigenisation revolution is Zanu-PF’s pragmatic answer to serious structural deficiencies in the economy which are a legacy of racist colonial rule. And the policy thrust is clearly defined. Whereas the MDC formations have been busy telling Zimbabweans that a messiah is going to bring bags of money from Western governments, Zanu-PF has since moved beyond preaching the gospel of self-emancipation and is now actively implementing it.
Indigenisation is also the answer to the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by some racist Western governments.
We must remember that President Mugabe has said if the sanctions are not lifted, it may be useful to go beyond the 51 percent indigenisation threshold and demand 100 percent ownership of Western companies operating in Zimbabwe.
But beyond the sanctions, there are grievances from Bulawayo’s business community that need to be addressed for the sake of our hard-won freedom and in the national interest.
When entrepreneurs in Bulawayo complain about commercial banks that force loan applicants to travel all the way to Harare just to submit application forms, central Government has a responsibility to listen to the people and take decisive action. Opportunities for economic progress must be created all over the country — and not just in Harare.
We cannot realistically expect every Zimbabwean to flock to Harare. Zimbabwe is not Harare and Harare is not Zimbabwe.
Which is why Professor Welshman Ncube’s proposal to have Parliament sit in Bulawayo deserves some attention. There is a retrogressive mentality in some circles which views Bulawayo as nothing but the venue of a once-a-year event called the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.
How else do you explain the scandal that in this country, a good 31 years after Independence, certain paperwork can only be processed in Harare?
Entrepreneurs and investors are forced to travel long distances to obtain some official forms. When they fill the forms, they must travel again to submit the documents.
By frustrating the business sector, the system is suffocating job creation and accelerating the shrinking of the nation’s tax base.
The Zanu-PF National People’s Conference must consolidate Zimbabwe’s sovereignty by reaffirming the crucial role of the indigenisation revolution in dismantling both racist economic domination and the evil Western sanctions.
Labels: BULAWAYO, ZANU-PF
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Bulawayo conference a ‘congress': President
Monday, 03 October 2011 00:00
Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe says the Zanu-PF 12th National People's Conference slated for Bulawayo in December is the party's last crucial meeting before national elections.
Speaking to journalists on arrival at the Harare International Airport yesterday from a visit to the Far East, the President said the conference was just as good as the party's national congress.
"Yes, we are organising for the conference. It is a very important conference as we organise towards national elections. After that conference we will not have another conference before elections so it is an important conference -just as good as a congress."
At congress, the party either elects new members of the Presidium and Politburo or endorses the current leadership.
Last year Zanu-PF endorsed President Mugabe as the party's candidate for national elections that were supposed to be held this year.
At the Bulawayo conference, sources said, Zanu-PF is highly likely to endorse President Mugabe's candidature for next year's national elections.
President Mugabe, who is also the Head of State and Government and Commander in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, said he also had an opportunity to see his daughter Bona who is studying in Hong Kong during his visit to the Far East.
Asked about how he felt during the two days that he has been away President Mugabe who was I jovial mood said:
"I go away for two days, resting seeing my daughter two days and you think I have been nostalgic about having left home. East, West, home, home, home is best."
The Zanu-PF conference which is expected to be attended by 6 000 delegates is going to be held from December 6 to 10.
Zanu-PF secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Rugare Gumbo yesterday said preparations for Bulawayo watershed conference were on course.
The party had come up with a conference co-ordinating committee to deal with conference preparations.
"Preparations for the conference are now at an advanced stage and we are meeting every month to discuss issues to do with the conference.
"We met last Thursday as the conference co-ordinating committee chaired by the national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo," he said.
Cde Gumbo said the party's information sub-committee would agree on the theme of the conference in two weeks time.
The theme, he said, would be forwarded to the conference co-ordinating committee that would in turn submit it to the Politburo for consideration or approval.
"We also discussed on logistical issues like accommodation, transport, entertainment and health."
Cde Gumbo said they were all out to make the conference a resounding success and said liberation movements from the region were expected to attend.
Early this month, Zanu-PF trained its members drawn from all the country's provinces on protocol as part of the conference preparations.
Last year the party Zanu-PF successfully held its 11th National People's Congress in Mutare.
The conference resolved to forge ahead with the indigenisation programme meant to correct historical injustices caused by colonialism.
Government has since gazetted regulations on empowerment and companies have been submitting plans on how they intend to comply with the regulations that requires that 51 percent shareholding in companies with a minimum capitalisation of US$500 000 be controlled by locals.
Labels: BULAWAYO, HARARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, ZANU-PF
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20 held in Bulawayo MDC-T clashes
by Staff Reporter
22/04/2011 00:00:00
TWENTY MDC-T youths were arrested in Bulawayo as rescheduled elections to choose a provincial executive turned violent with youths supporting rival candidates engaging in street battles and smashing cars in the city centre.
Witnesses said fights broke out between dozens of youths backing chairmanship candidates, Senator Matson Hlalo and State Enterprises minister, Godern Moyo.
It’s the second time the elections have had to be aborted due to violence.
Moyo was elected chairman at the first time of asking last weekend, but the rest of the executive could not be filled after clashes broke out between the rival factions. Hlalo, who was beaten by ten votes, dismissed Moyo’s election as a farce claiming at least 58 delegates had been barred from voting.
The party’s national executive has allegedly refused his request to nullify Moyo’s election.
Meanwhile, Friday’s re-arranged polls were meant to elect the rest of the executive but violence started after delegates from the Mpopoma and Pelandaba wards were barred from voting because they failed to conduct district elections.
Police were then called in as fist fights broke out between angry party youths, some of them pelting each other with stones and smashing cars. Twenty youths were arrested for public violence.
At least ten people were said to have been injured in the melee which took place outside the city’s Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions offices where the elections were supposed to be held.
Hlalo was later quoted as saying the elections would never take place as long as some wards were barred from voting insisting he would have won the elections if Mpopoma and Pelandaba delegates had been allowed to vote.
He said party leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai must resolve the dispute before the MDC-T national congress scheduled.
The party was last week forced to nullify elections Masvingo and Midlands North after they were also marred by violence.
Analysts have warned that Tsvangirai needs toget a grip on violence in the party saying these clashes show that the MDC-T could no longer continue to play innocent and blame political disturbances in the country on its Zanu PF rivals
Labels: BULAWAYO, CADRES, MDC VIOLENCE
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COMMENT - With the 2011 elections coming up, the international media is going to make a lot of 'ZANU-PF violence' in order to delegitimize the elections in case President Mugabe wins. However, a lot if not most violence comes from the MDC. They have the most to gain by it, because their popularity is falling, and as neoliberals, they have no other ideology than greed. Also see:
Khupe sucked in Bulawayo violence Violence: MDC-T caught in act
Crime Reporter
Thursday, 07 April 2011 22:14
SOME rowdy MDC-T youths who were part of a group that was unveiling tombstones at Warren Hills Cemetery ran amok on Wednesday afternoon and attacked several mourners, including Zanu-PF supporters who wanted to bury a colleague.
According to a police report, four policemen were injured while four commuter omnibuses, a marked police vehicle and several other cars in the cemetery were damaged by the stone throwing youths.
According to a witness identified as Mr Madende, they had gone to the cemetery to bury one of his workers who died after being knocked down by a car along Simon Mazorodze Road when the MDC-T youths attacked them.
The late Farai alias Fatso was a conductor for one of the commuter omnibuses owned by Mr Madende.
"When we arrived at the cemetery, we were shocked to see over 300 MDC-T supporters and buses offloading several others," Mr Madende said.
He said a few minutes later, the MDC-T youths became rowdy and charged towards them while in the process of burying Farai.
Mr Madende said some of the mourners were attacked while others fled.
Two commuter omnibuses belonging to Mr Madende had their windows shattered while three other vehicles - a Volvo, Nissan Sunny and a Nissan Hardbody truck - were also damaged.
Police were informed and when they rushed to the scene to investigate, they were also attacked and their Ford Ranger truck was damaged.
Reinforcements were called in but they were stoned by the youths.
"The youths were singing and chanting MDC-T slogans while there were also people who were taking photographs and video filming the incidents," Mr Madende said.
When the violence started, he said, MDC-T leaders Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and Mr Tendai Biti disappeared from the scene and did not warn their supporters to desist from such acts.
The supporters later disappeared after riot police was called in to calm the situation.
No arrests were made.
Mr Madende said several mourners were injured and one of them, a tout, is reported to be in a serious condition and admitted in hospital.
However, the private media yesterday alleged that scores of Zanu-PF youths besieged Warren Hills cemetery where Mr Tsvangirai was unveiling tombstones on the graves of five MDC-T supporters, disrupting proceedings.
It was alleged that the youths arrived in commuter omnibuses and chased away people who had come for the ceremonies.
But Harare provincial police spokes person Inspector James Sabau yesterday said when the mourners arrived at the cemetery, some MDC-T youths that were already there thought they were their colleagues.
"They then started to direct the convoy so that they will park their vehicles near where they had grouped. After some of the mourners disembarked, they discovered that they were MDC-T supporters and rushed back to their vehicle," he said.
Insp Sabau said the MDC-T youths identified some Zanu-PF supporters in the process and started throwing stones towards them.
He said the mourners and Zanu-PF supporters escaped and a report was made to the police who went to the scene.
"That is when one of the MDC-T youths hit the fender of the police vehicle, damaging it. The youths started throwing stones at the police before the reaction group was called in but they continued," he said.
Tear smoke was then used to disperse them.
Insp Sabau said they condemned unprovoked violence at all costs and would not hesitate to arrest anyone, without fear or favour.
On Wednesday, PM Tsvangirai was quoted describing Zanu-PF "as merchants of death" and alleged that there was continued violence in the country.
He also attacked Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri for alleged selective application of the law
Last month, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri warned unruly elements behind political violence that the force was ready and out in full force to maintain law and order.
He said the force was going to remain resilient and very tough on the ground.
Comm-Gen Chihuri's sentiments came in the wake of political violence, which was being perpetrated by the MDC-T in and around the city.
He said some of the people were stage managing violence and created chaos to give an impression that there was mayhem and anarchy in the country.
Recent investigations by the police revealed that the MDC-T was behind some of the political violence being perpetrated in and around the city this year.
In a statement, chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said the force would not be deterred in the discharge of its constitutional duties and would not need anyone to remind them of their obligations.
He assured the people that they were prepared to thwart any one bent on causing mayhem and anarchy in the country.
President Mugabe is on record calling on his partners in the inclusive Government to organise joint meetings with the Zanu-PF leadership to encourage rival party
supporters to desist from political violence.
The President's call is still to be heeded.
Labels: BULAWAYO, MDC VIOLENCE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, THOKOZANE KHUPE
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Khupe sucked in Bulawayo violence
Thursday, 07 April 2011 22:14
Bulawayo Bureau
SCORES of MDC-T supporters in some Bulawayo suburbs are reportedly living in fear following an escalation of intra-party violence that has reportedly sucked in Deputy Prime Minister and Makokoba legislator, Ms Thokozani Khupe.
The DPM's bodyguards allegedly assaulted a party supporter at Macdonald Hall in Makokoba on Sunday and left him for dead. DPM Khupe has dismissed the allegations.
Since the infighting that erupted at a party restructuring meeting at Macdonald Hall, factions vying for the party's chairpersonship in the province have allegedly hired gangsters to beat up rivals.
MDC-T will hold its congress at Babourfields Stadium in May and supporters fear violence will erupt.
The battle between Senator Matson Hlalo of Mzilikazi and Mr Gorden Moyo, a junior party member who Mr Morgan Tsvangirai plucked from obscurity and seconded to Cabinet in the inclusive Government, for the provincial chairmanship has reportedly resulted in violent campaigns.
Sen Hlalo is the provincial vice-chair.
On Sunday night, at least three MDC-T members were reportedly attacked by unknown assailants.
When our Bulawayo Bureau went to interview victims of the violence, most of them had locked their doors and refused to speak before seeing identification.
"We do not know who you are. The party might have sent you to beat us up. Bhara (a party youth) was stabbed on Sunday night by thugs that I think were hired by Ms Khupe.
"We are all now living in fear," said a woman from Mzilikazi who begged not to be identified.
She said DPM Khupe's bodyguards allegedly kicked Mr Raymond Nyamafene down the steps at the entrance to Macdonald Hall, resulting in him sustaining serious injuries.
He was not treated at the United Bulawayo Hospitals because he had no money.
Another party member, who spoke without opening the screen door to her house, said she no longer knew who to trust after her friend was attacked.
"My Friend, Ruth Mbedzi, was hit with an iron bar on Sunday night, at the gate to her home in Makokoba.
"Her neck is stiff and swollen. She failed to get medical attention because she had no money," said the youth.
"I think Sen Hlalo is responsible for the assault because his friend, (MDC-T councillor) James Sithole of Ward 7 promptly got her arrested when she came from hospital yesterday (Tuesday).
DPM Khupe said there was no substance to the allegations.
"Those are lies peddled by the party's political enemies. If my guys assaulted people, why were they not arrested?
"There are no divisions within the party as you people like to imply," she said.
DPM Khupe had a brush with the law last year after she allegedly assaulted a policeman at a roadblock.
Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri this year told Parliamentarians that the force had essentially let DPM Khupe off the hook though it was clear she had committed a crime.
Sen Hlalo said people intent on tarnishing the party's image were making up the stories.
"We are a democratic party and there are no divisions in our structures. There is no reason for us to fight and I will never sponsor violence.
"On Sunday, both Gorden (Moyo) and myself were barred by the party leadership from being anywhere near the meeting.
"Whoever spoke to you was making up a story to make the party look bad."
On Sunday, a brawl broke out at Macdonald Hall in Mzilikazi and another later on at Stanley Hall, where the party was having provincial restructuring exercises for Makokoba district in preparation for the congress.
There are also reports of violence in MDC-T in some parts of the country including Masvingo and Mashonaland West.
Labels: BULAWAYO, MDC VIOLENCE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, THOKOZANE KHUPE
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Bulawayo dams receive insignificant inflows
Monday, 20 December 2010 21:58
BULAWAYO’S five supply dams have received insignificant inflows, despite heavy rains that have been falling in and around the city since last month. However, two major dams in Matabeleland South, a province where the Bulawayo supply dams are situated, are reportedly spilling.
In an interview at the weekend, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority’s acting catchment manager for Mzingwane, Mr Stanley Nazombe, said two major dams, including Tuli-Makwe were filled to capacity and spilling.
The situation regarding Bulawayo’s dams, on the other hand could deepen fears that the water shedding schedule, which the Bulawayo City Council suspended without even implementing, would be put in place after all.
According to figures supplied by Mr Nazombe, Upper Ncema got the highest inflow of 12 percent, but the largest supply dam, Insiza’s level was reduced by 1,25 percent and is at 68,75 percent of its capacity.
The figures from Zinwa showed the status of the dams as at 16 December and these were being compared to figures released by the city council at the beginning of the month.
Mr Nazombe said the decommissioned Upper Ncema was now nine percent full, up from 2,23 percent. He said Umzingwane was 14 percent full. It was 3,32 percent full at the beginning of the month.
In suspending the water-shedding schedule on 7 December, Bulawayo’s director of engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube said the programme would be slightly delayed while inflows into the supply dams were being assessed.
He said water-shedding was an unpleasant measure of last resort that council only implemented in times of extreme crisis when there was no alternative to save water.
Eng Dube said it had many disadvantages that included inconvenience to residents and could cause damage to the water reticulation infrastructure in the city.
He said during times of water shedding, the sewer system started backfiring as less water went into it and sewer bursts became the order of the day.
Eng Dube said the programme would be put on hold until council assesses the inflows and determined that it really was the last resort.
Eng Dube appealed to residents to conserve water, to delay the necessity to water-shed.
The latest council report shows that the average daily water usage rate has risen to 151 486 cubic metres, from about 142 000 last month.
The report also states that following the decommissioning of Upper Ncema Dam on 5 September, the city’s demands had to be met by increased abstraction of water from Umzingwane by pumping.
However, the report showed that the pumping would result in the premature depletion of the dam.
Eng Dube said Umzingwane and Inyankuni Dams were set to be decommissioned in a few weeks if they do not get significant inflows from the rain that had started falling.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 22:57
Labels: BULAWAYO, IRRIGATION, STANLEY NAZOMBE, ZIMBABWE NATIONAL WATER AUTHORITIES
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MDC Byo nominates Welshman Ncube for presidency
By: TC-TZG
Posted: Monday, October 25, 2010 6:54 pm
THE Bulawayo provincial council of the MDC formation led by Professor Arthur Mutambara met on Saturday and resolved to nominate Prof Welshman Ncube as presidential candidate ahead of the party’s congress early next year.
Prof Ncube, presently the secretary-general, has already indicated that he is willing to run for the party presidency if party members want him to lead them in a more senior capacity.
The provincial council comprises of the 17 provincial members, 16 members of the women’s wing, 16 members of the youth wing and all the 12 district chairpersons of the party.
All members reportedly attended the Saturday meeting which also touched on next year’s possible general elections and the ongoing constitutional-making process.
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A source told The Chronicle newspaper: “The meeting sat and the provincial council unanimously agreed that they had to select a candidate from Bulawayo Province. It was also revealed in the meeting that there are eight other provinces that will back Bulawayo’s nomination.”
“It was also agreed in the meeting that leaders should be chosen on merit than on tribal lines,” added the source.
The source said the province has previously nominated party leaders from other provinces ahead of members from Bulawayo, an indication that tribe or region is not a matter.
Labels: BULAWAYO, MDC, WELSHMAN NCUBE
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Zanu-PF regional leader 'murdered' in Byo
By: TC-TZG
Posted: Thursday, October 21, 2010 9:53 am
THE Zanu-PF chairman for Manyano district in Bulawayo’s Pumula South has been found dead in what his family and party suspect is a politically motivated murder. Fourty-seven year old Maneru Ncube who lived in Lower Rangemore was found dead on early Thursday morning in a bushy area a few metres from the Bulawayo Provincial Heroes’ Acre.
A family spokesperson who refused to be named for fear of victimisation, told Chronicle newspaper that they believed it was politically motivated.
“The circumstances surrounding his death raise a lot of suspicions and as a family, we are shocked and grieved by what has happened,” he said.
“Maneru was in good health and had spent the whole day at home. He left home on Wednesday in the late hours of the day intending to sell his goods in Nkulumane.
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“To our surprise, he did not come back that day and we were still tracing his whereabouts the following day, only to be told that his body had been found in the bush across the road adjacent to the heroes’ acre.
“We went to the scene and found the body lying facing upwards with blood all over and there was a deep cut at the back of the head and we suspect that his assassins used a sharp object to kill him.
“We reported the matter to the police and the body was taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station.”
According to the family, Ncube had a misunderstanding with a member of MDC-T (name supplied) over a piece of land that he was using.
The MDC-T member allegedly wanted to turn the land into a playground.
“Three months ago, he had a quarrel with the MDC-T member over the land that he cultivated. The MDC-T member wanted to grab the land and turn it to a playground,” said the family member.
“Since then the relationship between the two became sour as the MDC-T member boldly stated that he hates people from Zanu-PF.
“From that time Ncube told the family that his life was in danger and revealed that the MDC-T member had threatened that nxa amaelections ebuya sifuna lina bantu beZanu libe selishotile. (When elections come some Zanu-PF cadres should have been eliminated).”
Meanwhile, Zanu-PF officials in Bulawayo held a meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss Ncube’s death.
“We are shocked and grieved by Ncube’s mysterious death,” said Zebediah Bafana, the party chairperson for District Co-ordinating Committee 2.
“As a party, we feel pained that Ncube died this way barely a week after receiving threats from MDC-T officials. This act of violence cannot be tolerated, more so in an inclusive Government.
“As a party we are not going to rest and keep quiet about this issue and we will not tolerate such violent behaviour.”
Labels: BULAWAYO, MANERU NCUBE, MDC VIOLENCE, ZANU-PF
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Magistrate suspended over corruption
By Our Correspondent
March 21, 2010
BULAWAYO – A senior Bulawayo magistrate was suspended on Friday on charges of corruption after he allegedly secretly granted bail to two city council employees who had been remanded in custody by a junior magistrate.
Magistrate Singandu Jele based at Bulawayo’s Tredgold Magistrate Courts was suspended by Matabeleland regional senior magistrate John Masimba for allegedly violating Section 44 of the Public Service Regulations 2000.
“You are hereby suspended from work with immediate effect because your act was inconsistent with or prejudicial to the discharge of your official duties and also included abuse of office,” reads part of the letter of suspension signed by Masimba, which was shown to The Zimbabwe Times.
Allegations against Jele are that on December 11 2009, two Bulawayo City council employees were convicted of fraud by a junior magistrate Ntombizodwa Mazhandu.
The fraud involved a 30 000 Rand deal for a housing stand in the city
The council employees, Mandlenkosi Ncube and Mthandazo Ndlovu, were remanded in custody to January 6 for sentence after pleading guilty to fraud before Mazhandu.
The following day the pair applied for bail pending sentence, but Mazhandu declined to grant them bail and instructed they should be sent back to remand prison.
However, on the evening of the same day, Jele allegedly secretly granted the pair US$100 bail each in exchange for a certain amount of money.
There has been an upsurge in the number of judicial officers involved in corruption over recent years. Observers blame this on poor salaries.
Magistrates currently earn salaries as low as US$200.
Last year the country’s judicial system was grounded to a halt after magistrates and prosecutors went on strike to demand more pay and better working conditions.
The strike by the magistrates came a few months after the government gave judges of the High and Supreme Courts luxurious cars, computers and plasma screen television sets as part of their perks.
Labels: BULAWAYO, MDC CORRUPTION
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